Presence-sensing mats are useful, for instance, to trigger automatic doors to open or close when stepped upon. Such devices can be found at doors to buildings, such as stores, airports, and hotels, for instance. Presence-sensing mats are also useful in other situations, such as industrial safety applications in which mats can sense whether a person or object is within a safe zone or, alternatively, an unsafe zone during operation of a machine. Such mats can be configured to enable the machine if the person or object is within the safe zone or disable the machine so as to not operate while a person or object are within the unsafe zone.
Such mats typically include electrodes within the mat but control and other electronics contained separately outside of the mat and connected to the electrodes with one or more wires exiting from the mat. Such a configuration requires not only the mat, but also the separate electronics, to be protected in a resilient, moisture-resistant manner. Several disadvantages are associated with this configuration, including excess cost in manufacturing, increased susceptibility to moisture and other environmental hazards, decreased reliability, increased trip hazard and distance limitations due to wires connecting various components, and the like.
Other devices, such as sensor systems, are used to sense the presence of a person or object, for instance, to automatically open a door or the like. However, such systems have many disadvantages. For instance, such systems are costly to install and maintain; are subject to improper functioning if the sensors become misaligned, mis-calibrated, or otherwise malfunctioning; and are subject to phantom activations, such as activations from blowing debris or people or objects passing by within the sensed zone.
What is needed is an improved mat system. For example, a mat system and method that provides a relatively self-contained, moisture-resistant, reliable, presence-sensing mat.